He ate up the distance between them when she still didn’t respond. He thought she’d jump when he touched her upper arm—she seemed lost in her thoughts—but she turned around without flinching. She met his stare.
“Why are you lying to me?”
A chill passed through him—not just because of her flat, calm query, but the strange, masklike quality of her expression.
“Lying to you? What are you talking about?”
She pointed wordlessly out the window, watching his face the whole time.
“So?” he asked, seeing nothing out of the ordinary through the pane of glass. Outside everything looked normal. She was another story. “Alice, what’s wrong?” he demanded tensely.
“The driveway?” she asked, and despite his bewilderment, he was glad to hear the familiar biting sarcasm and anger in her tone. He much preferred it over the marble-like Alice he’d just seen. “You had a magnificent lake view in that other room. Why did you move in here, where you have a view of the driveway?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I went in there!” She pointed, her eyes blazing. “I went into that room just now. The one you wouldn’t let me go into that night because there was a damaged floorboard. There was no damaged floorboard! It’s your old room. The one you used to occupy before you moved into this bedroom. It looks like it’s the master suite of this whole damn palace. Some of your old things are still in there.”
Shit.
“Alice—” he began, alarm making the hair on his forearms stand on end.
“You told me when I first came here that you liked the view better in this suite, and that’s why you moved!” She pointed again out the window. “You liked the view of the driveway better than the most amazing, stunning lake view I’ve seen yet in this house? You liked this room versus what looks to be some kind of fantasy suite?” she asked, her voice high-pitched with disbelief. He put his hands on her upper arms and turned her to face him.
“I can explain about that.”
“Really?” she asked, her expression wild. She lurched past him, breaking his hold on her. She seemed to think again and spun around, panting. “All right. Go ahead. And while you’re at it, explain why you told me there was a hole in the floorboard in that room in order to keep me out of it. Face it, Dylan. You’re a liar. You lied so that I wouldn’t go in that room. You lied about why you moved over into this one! You lied about that gong. Marie had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned that gong I heard my first day here. I can’t figure out why you’re lying, because they seem like completely stupid things to lie about, but you are doing it! I’m not going crazy,” she yelled, panting heavier now. “It’s you. You’re lying!”
He put up a cautionary hand and approached her, holding her stare. “I’m not denying it, Alice. Let me explain.”
“I’ve thought this whole thing between us was too good to be true from the beginning. I knew there had to be some kind of a catch. I knew you were lying,” she said under her breath.
&
nbsp; “Jesus,” he grated out, because he saw she was shaking. He grasped her shoulders, refusing to let go even when she flinched. “Listen to me. It’s true,” he said. “I have been lying about a few things. But I only did it because I was worried about you.”
She looked up at him, her broken, stunned expression cutting him to the quick.
“You were worried about me? You made me feel like I was going nuts, when it’s you that’s crazy. How could my knowing about some stupid room alleviate your worry about me?” She broke frantically from his hold and stumbled. He caught her in time to keep her from falling. He brought her closer to his body.
“Look at me,” he demanded. Her frantic, skittering gaze caught on his stare. “I will explain, but you have to calm down, Alice.”
“Let. Go. Of me,” she grated out succinctly.
He immediately released her and stepped back. They regarded each other warily from a distance of several feet, both of their breathing erratic. She jumped when someone knocked on the door.
“What?” he bellowed, keeping his gaze fixed on Alice’s pale face.
“Dylan? It’s me,” a woman said hesitantly, her voice weak and muffled because of the thickness of the door.
“Not now, Louise,” he shouted.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that Sidney Gates is here. Should I tell him you’re not available?”
Alice looked like a wild animal backed into a corner. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she flew at him in that minute, teeth bared. Fuck. He’d thought he’d known the meaning of helplessness, but this was a whole new level of the definition. He raked his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes briefly.
“No. Tell Sidney Alice and I will meet him in my den,” he called to Louise, sounding much more calm than he felt.
He met Alice’s suspicious stare, and took a slow, steady inhale to brace himself for the unknowable.